Every year, we still hear about many accidental falls and drowning of young children into swimming pools. A practical solution developed in prior art for preventing these falls is to entirely cover the water surface of the pool with a covering structure or sheet of material. These cover systems are generally complex and tedious to install or to remove. As a result, they are often not used.
Among the various swimming pool covers, there is the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,832,741 (WARD). This swimming pool cover system comprises a sheet of material shaped for affixture about the periphery of the pool and supported above the swimming pool by an elongated boom member. The boom member is pivotally mounted on a retaining post adjacent to the pool. Although the swimming pool cover system described in WARD is simple and can be rapidly installed over the pool, it entails some disadvantages. For example, in the uncovering position, the cover sheet which is just lying suspended from its upper extremity to the raised boom member is believed to be very cumbersome and not aesthetic at all. Furthermore, on windy days, the wind just hits the cover sheet as it does for a flag or sail and the boom or the attachment means can easily break. For these reasons, this swimming pool cover ends up to be not very practical.
For the foregoing reasons, there are needs for a swimming pool cover system which is simple, easy to install or to remove rapidly and, most of all, easy to store when not in use over the swimming pool.